Windows 10: Windows10 File History Stopped Backing Up

I have been using File History Backup ever since Windows10 was introduced. I just checked the last backup, and see it was Jan 1, 2018 - seams to have stopped working as of then, and don't know how to get it going again. I have it set to back up Daily and to keep History for 1 month.

I noticed that it backed up in the wee hours of the morning, and I do power off every night. Might this be the issue? Also wonder if there is a way to know that the backup running successfully.

Here are the settings



Running Windows 10 Pro, V. 1709, Build 16299.192

:)

 

backing up file history

backing up file history

 

backing up file history

how do I back up file history on usb

**Moved from: Windows / Windows 10 / Windows update, recovery, & backup **

 

When did you get the update to Fall Creators Update, version 1709? Was that on or just after 1st Jan.?

Several of us have reported that File History stopped after the update to 1709. Changing the settings and setting it up again seemed to fix it.

File History to be removed?

 

Actually I have no idea when I got the Fall Creators Update. But I will try changing the settings and see if that takes care of it.

Thanks for your reply!

 

If you got it through Windows Update it should tell you in the update history. I manually installed 1709 and file history stopped from that date on until I noticed and re set its settings. Has worked reliably ever since.

 

Not sure when the "Daily" backups runs but as far as I know, no backup will run when the machine is power off. I would think it would retry once the machine is powered on.

Have you always powered off your device? (and by power of I mean shutdown)

 

File History can be temperamental. My fix for when it stops backing up is below.

• Stop FH
• Delete the FH config files at C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\Configuration
• Restart FH and select to use the same backup drive as before

 

No, I've never been able to spot any pattern, it seems to depend on whether there have been any changes to the files being backed up. I have had backups roughly every 2-3 days (which would fit with how often my files change).

File History is very much my third line of defence, I have other backup regimes but leave File History on as a last resort - I just 'set and forget' it. It's pointing to a network share, so there's never any issue with the history drive being available.

As such I seldom check on its progress. Mine is set for 'Daily', looking today, I see the last five backups (out of 179) were...

12 Feb. 20:57
09 Feb. 21:42
06 Feb. 19:47
06 Feb. 14:48
02 Feb. 12:12

There's a gap of one month in the history, from when I updated to 1709 in mid-October until I set it up again in mid-November. Prior to that there are regular backups every other day or so, back to the first on 14 Nov 2016 11:35.

 

Thanks for that info! I have 2 computers, File History stopped working on both. 1709 was installed on one late Dec and on the other Jan 1 - about the time FH stopped working. So looks like 1709 is the culprit. I took your advice and re-set the settings, and looks like FH is working again. Thanks for your help!

 

*Thumbs

Mine's worked reliably since I reset it.

 

Yes, I power off (almost) every night. Agree that it must re-try as soon as it is turned back on.

 

Steve. Thanks for the info! Since re-setting the Options in FH seems to have fixed it, I plan to leave well enough alone. But will definitely try your suggestion if it quits working again.

On a more general question: Is there a better Auto Backup application than File History? I don't care about historical versions of any files - only current version in case my hard drive fails. I prefer it to be on my external hard drive (not cloud), and free is always good!

 

As a product Macrium Reflect. There is a free version.

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect

I bought it because it has a feature Image Guardian. This is supposed to prevent unauthorized writes to backups. Think ransomware.

Macrium Software | Macrium Image Guardian

I'm using for system images and data.

 

Thanks. I will check that out!